Aurora Arcology News

Friday, 6 May 2016

An update after the long silence. Due to the fast growth of the refugee population & the rising threat of the Drifters about a year ago, I had decided to dedicate myself to the management of the Aurora Arcology. This in turn also meant the stop of Aurora News publications.
For the time being, Aurora News won't make it's full return, mainly staying focused on updates on the Arcology project & occasionally bringing a different article, likely around the history of New Eden & capsuleers.

Over the silent year, the Aurora Arcology continued to accept new refugees. Thanks to the many capsuleers who continue to support us, the growth has been steady and more & more people have been given a new chance in life.

On top of this, we also received a large variety of artifacts for study and display. Gifts like these are an important part of maintaining the cultural link with home, but also to give an insight into different cultures, good & bad.
In order to give these relics the proper attention, the museum has been expanded, both the display section as its archaeological division.
The artifacts we received are varied: Minmatar statues, old Amarr texts, Talocan machinery, Takmahl art, mysterious devices of unknown civilizations and Capsuleer relics of important events.
Displaying these at the museum will go a long way to help people improve their understanding of the various civilizations & groups in New Eden across history & space and ultimately improve their understanding of cultures other then theirs.

Once again, a big thanks to everyone who aided refugees & rescued civilians from danger. Also a big thanks for your trust in the Aurora Arcology project to aid these people. Thanks to you 1.5 million citizens have found a safe haven within the Arcology!

Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Following the death of Empress Jamyl Sarum I and the announcement of the Succession Trials, Court Chamberlain Pomik Haromi met with the Ministry of War & the Grand Admirals for a proper course of action regarding the Drifter threat.
Initially, the Amarr Empire has been put in a high state of alert, but a more direct answer was needed to comfort the population of the Empire. And this answer came after a few days, where the Grand Admiral Kezti Sundara explained the Drifter threat to the Theology Council & the Privy Council.

The inevitable conclusion

As of 25 August, YC 117 at 11H, the Amarr Empire is officially at war with the Drifters. A general mobilization is in progress. A fortification of the Throne World fleets is underway, along with the reinforcement of the border systems to prevent opportunistic attacks from others.
Also, the Imperial Navy has begun cleansing the Drifters from the core world systems. Imperial forces have also entered the contested Devoid region, reinforcing the area & actively engaging Drifters.
This intervention in Devoid will surely be ill-received by the Minmatar Republic, but for now, there have been no official statements from their diplomats.

The Drifter response didn't wait for long. Only a few hours after the declaration of way, they begun their attack on the lowsec system Nandeza in the Khanid Kingdom. As the Imperial Navy was mainly securing it's own space in the Amarr Empire, this gave the Drifters the initial advantage, allowing them to rapidly setup a few strongholds & strikepoints!
However, the response of the Imperial Navy wouldn't take long and they send in their forces to assist the Khanid Kingdom to battle this threat.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Order has geared its propaganda into action, calling the people of Amarr to pray for the righteous defenders of the Throne Worlds. On top of this, the Drifters are portrayed as the harbingers of unimaginable evil to strike an iron resolve in the people to defy them.

All shall fall in our wake

In response to the Amarr declaration of war and the invasion of the Drifters into the Khanid Kingdom, capsuleers set out to attack this foe.
But when they arrived, they were met with a discouraging sight... the wreckage of countless Navy ships floating across space.... Sometimes a flash of light was seen when a straggler launched a final desperate attack on the Drifter battleships, only to be erased by their superior weaponry...
The first capsuleers that attacked didn't do much but to follow the fate of the Navy ships...

But capsuleers are nothing of resourceful in the field of battle. Both Arek'Jaalan and Spectre Fleet took the forefront this conflict. While Arek'Jaalan send in small forces to analyze their tactics & devise strategies to combat it, Spectre Fleet went full in, launching devastating attacks on the Drifters. While they were often pushed back, they managed to diminish several Drifter task forces in the area.
While all this fighting is going on, capsuleer The Golden serpent tried a more peaceful route after the Drifters destroyed her ship. She remained in the area with her pod, seemingly ignored by the Drifters and began recording what she saw, gathering & releasing all the info, for a better understanding of this rising threat. You can find her observations here: 'Report on the trip to Baratar system, Khanid; Drifter incursion'

Despite all these actions, it isn't enough to drive out these invaders. There's been reports that the Drifters intend to expand their area of influence to other places once they have consolidated this area.
Considering the Drifters have begun their attack in lowsec, it complicates matters, as there's always capsuleers that prefer to engage their own kind instead of facing an invading force, making it all that more difficult to drive them out.
If this continues, the future looks grim for this area of the Khanid Kingdom... We have no idea what the Drifters will do once they solidly control an area of space... But an invading entity rarely has good intentions for their enemies.

The silence of Concord

In all the recent Drifter related conflicts, Concord has been eerily silent since the attack on the Yulai HQ by a small drifter taskforce. In previous rising threats, Concord at least provided some intel or made some public announcement regarding it.
While Concord's main goal is to provide peace between the 4 nations & keep a leash on capsuleers, the stability of the cluster as a whole should be a concern of theirs. Drifters snooping around everywhere with advanced tech & engaging anyone who comes too close is surely a worrying matter, not only for Amarr but for the whole of the New Eden cluster.
Hopefully we'll hear news from Concord soon regarding the Drifters.

Monday, 24 August 2015

Well, this weekend has been a slaughterhouse, with many teams that got eliminated from the tournament! 4 teams remain undefeated, while 12 teams are still competing in the Elimination part!

Undefeated Teams

Camel Empire -----Warlords of the Deep

Nulli Secunda ---- Pandemic legion

Among the undefeated teams there's no major surprise, these 4 teams are the big game contenders and always end up high in the Alliance Tournaments! Nice to note is that the Warlords of the Deep is the old Hydra team. In the final weekend these teams will fight 3 matches to determine who can go to the finals!

The Elimination Battles

The Tuskers & Co. ----- The Afterlife

winner against

Tactical Narcotics Team

The Gorgon Empire & Spawn ----- End of Life

winner against

Shadow Cartel

Test Alliance Please Ignore ----THE R0NIN

winner against

Exodus.

Phoebe Freeport Republic ---- Hard Knock Citizens

winner against

Triumvirate.

These will be some tense matches, as the teams here must win to continue! No third chance for them! Most teams here are of little surprise, as they tend to get far in previous AllianceTournaments as well. Also a few new names who managed to get this far! Lets see if they can win against established teams!
In this light, the Phoebe Freeport Republic match against Hard Knock Citizens will be especially curious as both are new teams competing in the Tournament!

All in all, the Finals weekend will hopefully be filled with thrilling battles where teams do their best to outmatch the opponent & provide ambiance for their spectators & fans!
You can see the Tournament brackets here: 13th Alliance Tournament Brackets
You can get a quick view of the matches itself with the excellent 3D match review option provided by NULL-SEC.COM. You get the 3D views by simply clicking the match yo'ure inetrested in & use the option to review it once the match is selected.
If you prefer to view the stream of the matches, you can visit Alliance Tournament XIII Complete set, provided by capsuleer Ranger 1 with thanks to CCP & ISD personnel that streamed it all.

Some observations of the Tournament

ECM galore!

In these two weekends, there's been complains about the large use of ECM in this tournament, reducing some matches to the luck of a draw, whether a jam would work or not.
This abundance of ECM can be attributed to various factors.

1) ECM is very effective in small scale engagements, like this tournament. The ability to shut down 1 to 3 ships gives you a great advantage, even of only temporary shut down.

2) Tech 2 drones & Meta drones are banned this tournament. Unlike the previous one, which saw an overabundance of Gecko-drone users & tech 2 drones. Usually drones are a nice counter to ECM as you can reassign them to others & you can't jam a flight of them, allowing you to chase off or even destroy the Jammer.

2) The banning of Dampening scripts. These tend to be a good counter to ECM as well, as they force the usually fragile ECM ships to close in, making them more vulnerable to be shot.

With two counters nerfed, the large deployment of ECM was to be a given at this Alliance Tournament as it's a tool that gives a large advantage for the team that wields it.

Alliance Tournament ships galore!

I reported last weekend already that AT ship prizes were used in this Tournament, namely the Malice. but this weekend the Malice AT9 frigate was fielded more liberally, by multiple teams, showing the lethality of this ship in team engagements.
However, the Malice wasn't the only AT prize ship that was seen this tournament. Pandemic Legion brought in the Etana logistic cruiser on the field in their matchs against Shadow Cartel.
While Shadow Cartel lost this match, they did bring home a moral victory by blowing up the prized Etana cruiser!

The Etana cruiser is an offspring of the Osprey Caldari cruiser. It was designed during Heth's rule to assist in espionage & covert operations. Prototypes of this ship were deployed to spy on Gallente ship & troop movements around Caldari Prime.
In order to perform this function, this logistic cruiser was equipped with a covert jump drive & advanced electronics allowing it to have an unparalleled shield transfer rate and equip a covert ops cloak on top of it.
The State sponsored the 10th Alliance Tournament, providing a batch of 50 Etana logistic cruisers for the wining team Verge of Collapse.

Closing note

Quite some tense & close matches now. Not to mention that multiple teams fielded AT prize ships, risking billions to win their matches. While it does give the Team that uses the AT prize ship a nice advantage, the Alliance Tournament is the event to use them, as they're far to rare & expensive for normal combat operations. not to mention that the opposing team can score a bonus moral victory by blowing one of these ships up, as Shadow Cartel did with the Etana from Pandemic Legion!

Also the Tournament matches went smooth now, no hiccups or rule-lawyering, boosting everyone's enjoyment!
Now onwards to the Grand Finals! Where the best of the best duke it out to win fabulous prizes!

-Succession Trial Date: 21 to 23 April of YC 118
-Only Amarr & Khanid ships will be allowed to participate (In detail: only ships that exclusively require Amarr ship skills) The class of ship has not yet been determined.
- Champions must have positive unmodified standings towards the Amarr Empire
- Champions can be of any race or Bloodline (a change from the previous Championship!)
- Champions may not put forth an Heir of their Choice, as the Heirs will select the best 5 of those after the Championship Tournament to fight for them in the final Succession Trial.

More details concerning rules, registration & the Championship trials will be released in a future declaration.

Hundreds of capsuleers had gathered at Safizon to witness the arrival of Empress Jamyl Sarum I in her Titan along with her escort of Aeon supercarriers. To honour her, CVA/PIE/SFRIM capsuleers & friends held a prayer for her.

Even the station turrets were modified to enhance the celebration as they shot fireworks across the crowd, making everyone feel excited for the upcoming reveal.

A capsuleer loyalist fleet preparing for parade formation, unaware of what is about to happen...

Image by Jandice Ymladris

But then, a dark nightmare became reality when a large fleet of Drifter battleships appeared all of a sudden amidst the speech of the Empress. Wasting no time, they fired two volleys. One volley took out the Imperial Titan Seraph, the second smaller volley fired at her escape pod. Then the sinister Drifter taskforce warped out, leaving hundreds of capsuleers & their crews behind in shock & confusion as it all went so fast...

The strike on the Seraph, annihilating the Titan immediately after.

Image by Sahriah Bloodstone

Crowd in disarray as the wreckage of the Seraph floats through space

Image by Jandice Ymladris

Chaos erupted as people began shouting, overloading comms. Rumours spread that Amarr was under siege, causing many fleets to warp as soon as they could to the system. All the while, the Admirals of the Imperial Navy called for order & asked to secure the area; to assure the Drifter taskforce was really gone.

Arriving at Amarr, nobody could confirm the presence of Drifters, yet people remained vigilant, scouring the system. In the end, it turned out to be a false alarm.

What will happen now is unsure. Capsuleers claim that she has died during the attack, as people confirmed to have seen her corpse.

This attack showed the lethal danger the Drifters present. they can strike anywhere, anytime they desire, taking out whatever they choose & withdraw in impunity... Dark days have befallen the Amarr Empire... and perhaps the cluster if their aggression expands...

Currently, it is not known why the Drifters were so focused on the Empress, to the point that they ignored everyone else & retreated once her ship was gone.

Memorial image of Empress Jamyl Sarum I, as released by the Amarr Empire

For those who want to honour the passing of the Empress, capsuleer Alizebeth Amalath is organizing a funeral ceremony to pay final respect to Jamyl Sarum: Funeral Mass information

The Scope reported on this shattering event as well:

Scope reporting on the Drifter attack in Safizon, resulting in the Seraph' destruction

Direct footage by capsuleer Mangraa Dementia showing the assassination of the Empress by the Drifters

Short vid, showing the final moments of the Seraph & the Empress

Capsuleer Sahriah Bloodstone created a short movie titles 'Fall of the Empress' summarizing the Safizon Drifter attacks that culminated in the assassination of the Empress

"There will be neither compassion nor mercy;

Nor peace, nor solace

For those who bear witness to these Signs

And still do not believe."

-The Scriptures, Book of Reclaiming 25:10

The reactions of the other nations & Concord upon receiving this shocking news

An official publication has combined the various responses of Concord, the State, the Federation and the Republic. below you'll find a summary of it.

The Concord assembly has put their fleet in the highest state of alert since the Sansha attacks of YC 112. They also expressed that while they were shocked & saddened by the sudden death of Empress Jamyl Sarum I, they'll remain vigilant & that the Drifters are their highest threat priority to the peace & stability of New Eden

In the State, the Chief Executive Panel has released a statement, offering their condolences to their allies and that they shall mourn the Empress' death. They furthermore stated that she was an important figure in maintaining the friendly relations between the State & Empire.
In reaction to the Drifter attack, the Caldari Navy has been placed on high alert and the Megacorporation Security forces have been mobilized to secure the State from their aggression.

The Gallente President Jacus Roden praised Empress Jamyl Sarum I for her clarity in matters regarding the Amarr Empire & its people. While the President & the Empress often disagreed in important matters & morals, he still called her a positive influence on the Gallente-Amarr relations and therefor offered condoleances to the people of the Empire in name of the Gallente Federation.
The Gallente Navy has been put on invasion alert, making sure that their fleets occupy strategic defensive positions to deflect possible incoming attacks. The Federan Intelligence Operations also have been put on high alert, keeping track of all Drifter activity in federation space.

Sanmator Maleatu Shakor of the Minmatar Republic remarked briefly that he was dismayed at the ability of the Drifters to penetrate the security of a major power and violently remove their head of state. Further on, he declared that after a session with the Tribal Council that the Drifters pose no immediate threat to the Republic and therefor no actions are being undertaken against them. He further expresses his concerns that the current instability in the Amarr Empire could lead to an increased suffering of the enslaved people.
Meanwhile, in parts of the Republic, citizens are far less restricted in their response, celebrating the death of the Empress, whom they sometimes refer to as 'The Witch'. The Sanmator declined to comment on these celebrations, albeit Chief Tenerhaddi Dykon of the Krusual Tribe was more open about it, station that he rejoiced as he would rejoice at the death of a rabid slaver hound.

It's been some action packed weeks as of late. From the Alliance Tournament kickoff to the various Drifter attacks in Amarr space, there has been no shortage of news to report on.
The Alliance Tournament is a yearly recurring competition where capsuleers compete to see who has the best team. Broadcasted across the cluster to be viewed by billions of citizens across the various nations, it is one of the largest & most known capsuleer events in New Eden.
So far, it's been entertaining, with all recurring teams being backed by their fans still going strong in the Tournament. Quite some of the new teams had a good run as well, adding flavour to the tournament.
Undoubtedly, the upcoming weekend will see some serious battles being fought in the competition, as the teams aim to claim the top prizes consisting of the Interceptor & Heavy Interdictor Sansha ships!
Then again, for the less fortunate, PLEX prizes & a Sansha skin license awaits!

The rising threat of the Drifters on the other hand is an issue that can't be ignored, as they launched yet another assault on Amarr space. Suspecting the Drifters plan to sabotage the first official flight of the new Imperial Flagship, CVA has called out to organize a fleet & be ready for the worst. State supporters have already stated they will stand by their allies in these dark times.
So if the Drifters try anything, at the ceremony, the capsuleers are ready to challenge them.

Now onward to this week's immigrants. With thanks to capsuleers Francophobia, & many others, alot of refugees can look forward to a bright new future!

Monday, 17 August 2015

The Alliance Tournament has two different brackets/ Undefeated & Elimination. As long as you keep winning, you remain in the Undefeated bracket. Once you lose a match however, you are placed in the Elimination bracket, giving you a chance to renew your glory. But once you lose in the Elimination bracket, you're out the Tournament!

So far, no big surprises. All the teams that did good in the previous two tournaments are still in the competition. You can find the list & schedule of the previous two Alliance Tournaments here:- 11th Alliance Tournament schedule- 12th Alliance Tournament schedule
As noticed above, 7 Flagships met their untimely end as well, meaning these specific ships may no longer be used by their team for the rest of the tournament. Big thanks to capsuleer Aliventi of Pandemic Horde for the Flagship kill list!

I thank the organisation of the NULL-SEC.COM website for storing this data for future use! It offers a great overview & helps in assessing good teams & team surprises. Their site offers much more then just Tournament overview however. It includes news, fits & a market overview section, so enjoy browsing their site!

Fun observations & facts

Red Team = Winner's Team!

Did you know that during the first weekend, Red team won nearly all matches? This is especially noticeable on Day 1 in bothsystems & Day 2 in the PE1-R1 system. The only exception to it is the Day 2 competition in JB-007 where it was mostly blue teams that won.

Can't touch the Malice!

On the first day, in the "Black Legion. vs Warlords from the Deep", the WotD team deployed a very rare & expensive ship! Namely the Malice, an AT 9 tournament prize ship!
The function of the ship during this match was bait & it worked greatly. The BL team primaried the frigate, trying to shoot it down, but they failed, giving the victory to the Warlords of the Deep! The Malice survived this ordeal.
On the second day, the Warlords of the Deep used two Malice frigates against their opponent The Methodical Allaince. This expensive deployment was successful & they once again won the day!
On the same, there was another team that deployed a Malice, namely The Camel Empire who sent theirs against the Agony Empire team. Once again with success.

Some info about this unusual frigate, the Malice is a design from the Amarr Empire that was designed exclusively for the capsuleer winners of the 9th Alliance Tournament.This rare frigate includes state of the art technology in both defense and offence, providing enhanced armor resists and extended power & range to small laser turrets. It also comes with enhanced energy drain & neutralize systems, making it a lethal opponent on the battlefield.
So far the Malice is the only AT prize ship that's been fielded this Alliance Tournament.

6 Flagships down vs 1 the next day

Most teams have selected a flagship for use. These ships can circumvent certain rules on fitting, but must be approved first by the Tournament. Also, the team may only use 1 of these fitted ships for the whole tournament, so if they are destroyed, that team cannot use their Flagship anymore!
In this case, there's quite the difference of Flagships taken out. The first day saw 6 of them down. Apparently, this made the teams alot more careful in the next day, as only 1 went down then!

Alliance Tournament rule violations & rulings

Bad news is that there have been two rule violations. both of them not picked up by referees or rule checkers until after the match was over. You can check Alliance Tournament rules here: 13th Alliance Tournament Rules.

In the match "Nulli Secunda vs That Escalated Quickly", NS managed to blow up the Barghest Flagship. Shortly after this, killmail observers spotted the usage of a Capacitor booster meta module, which may not be allowed, not even under the Flagship exception rules.

Keep in mind, That Escalated Quickly is a new team & this is their first tournament. On top of this, Flagship fits must be submitted at least a week in advance in order to verify that these fits don't break the fitting rules for them.
The main culprit behind this is the rule 'Faction Capacitor Boosters are allowed' which refers to the capacitor booster charges, not the capacitor booster module! Hopefully an update to this rule will make it more clear for future new teams in the tournament & those who check fits.

In the end, That Escalated Quickly was given a warning, a fair ruling considering this was their first Tournament, that they lost the match and because the meta module should have been picked up during the Flagship fit submission.

In the match "Together We Solo vs Gone Critical", the TWS team warped in at 100 km while the rules state that the max warp in distance is 50 km. On top of this, it was not picked up by the referees at the time. To make matters worse, the TWS team won this match.
Considering that weapon effectiveness is highly range dependent, this can be seen as a large unfair advantage for the TWS team.

Despite this, the TWS team was given a warning, despite the fact that GC could have won if the match was played out by the rules. Note, this ruling was first discussed between the TWS team & GC Team before made public. Neither team opposed the rulings.
In this case, a rematch would have been more fair, as the unfair advantage very likely skipped the match in favor of TWS, who did won it.

Closing note

All in all, the matches were fun to watch, seeing some quick team collapses, but also hard stances of those who won't give up, fighting tooth & nail for their matches.
There were some unusual setups as well, with the Curatores Veritates Alliance gaining alot of attention, as many expected them to field Amarr ships due to their allegiance to the Amarr Empire. yet they surprised everyone by bringing a Vargur ship team!
Seeing a Malice in action was a rare but great sight as well! Cheers for Warlords of the Deep risking one in their tournament.

It's a shame about the rule violations, but the teams involved did agree with the ruling outcomes, so that should be the final word on it. Hopefully, the Alliance Tournament management learns from these two cases, so that in the end they'll have a positive effect for future matches.
After all, almost all matches were fought fair & people had a blast! Lets focus on that instead of two negative cases!